Canadian authorities thwart pressure-cooker bomb plot

Credit: AP

EVIDENCE: A photo released by Canadian police shows a pressure cooker bomb seized from a couple allegedly scheming a Canada Day attack.

SURREY, British Columbia — A Boston Marathon-style attack on Canada Day festivities Monday was disrupted when the Mounties nabbed an al-Qaeda-inspired couple and seized pressure cooker bombs, police said.

John Stewart Nuttall and Amanda Marie Korody were inspired by al-Qaeda ideology but were self-radicalized, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner James Malizia said yesterday. He called it a domestic threat without international connections.

Malizia said there was no evidence to suggest a link to the deadly Boston Marathon bombings in April. But the plot outlined by the RCMP appears to parallel the case in Boston, where federal prosecutors say the Tsarnaev brothers learned how to make pressure cooker bombs from an online al-Qaeda magazine, and downloaded Islamic extremist texts meant to inspire lone wolves who operate on their own initiative.

Nuttall and Korody were arrested on Monday, the same day that thousands attended the Canada Day celebrations at the provincial legislature in Victoria. Police said the bombs were found outside the legislature before the crowds gathered.

“This self-radicalized behavior was intended to create maximum impact and harm to Canadian citizens at the B.C. legislature on a national holiday,” RCMP Superintendent Wayne Rideout said. “They took steps to educate themselves and produce explosive devices designed to cause injury and death.”

Police said a tip from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service led to a five-month investigation. Rideout said the pair discussed a wide variety of targets and techniques.